Philips Avent Digital Video Baby Monitor, SCD843/37

This digital video monitor has all I need for peace of mind while my little one sleeps! My favorite feature is the vibration option, I've never seen that on a baby monitor. It's really nice to put the vibration mode at night so we (my husband and myself) aren't both woken up when the baby rouses. I do wish the vibration was a bit stronger so I could use the feature when wearing the monitor when I'm doing house chores as I have tried it and am not able to feel it alert. I am pleased with the long battery life (10 hours) so I don't have to leave the monitor plugged in to charge all night. The monitor has several different modes, but I always leave it on eco mode (where the video only pops up when the little one is making noise) since I'm not generally watching the monitor continuously anyway. The sensitivity can also be adjusted which is a really nice feature to make sure you aren't being alerted for the slightest noises when you're trying to get some precious sleep! We thought it would be nice to be able to use the talk feature to soothe the baby but it actually sounds pretty creepy on the receiving end, so that's one feature we aren't finding useful, but it's not really necessary so we don't mind. I like that the monitor itself is sturdy, and the built-in utility clip lets me keep it with me but still be hands free around the house. The video quality is good, even in night vision mode and you can pan and zoom to get a closer look if needed, although you do have to go into those features via the menu which is somewhat inconvenient in the middle of the night. And lastly, I am a huge fan of this monitor not being connected to WiFi for security reasons. Thank you to weeSpring Parent Panel for sending me the Phillips Avent Digital Video Monitor to use and review.

I received this product as part of the weeSpring Parent Panel. At first, I thought this was a decent, basic monitor. I liked the size of the parent receiver and I appreciated the ease of setting it up. The video quality was fair but the quality in night mode is definitely not great. It also doesn't offer a wide view so I could only see my daughter's bed, not any other part of the room. I liked the Eco mode and the vibrate option (so if you want to turn the sound off you can have it vibrate instead) and the two-way talk ability is a must have for me. I did find that when I used the two-way talk, sometimes I could hear myself even after I finished speaking so I don't know if there was a delay or if the sound quality was poor. I liked the nightlight feature and that you can play music through it, although I've never turned the music on. I was using this as my primary monitor for my toddler but after 1.5 weeks the sound completely stopped working - hence my rating of 2 stars. I haven't tried to contact customer service yet but turning everything on and off and unplugging everything didn't fix the problem.

The video quality on the Philips Avent SCD843H is excellent. We used an older monitor with my first child and were shocked by the clarity and amount of detail visible with the Philips Avent monitor. We were very impressed with the infrared night vision that was perfectly clear, even in an extremely dark room. I also really liked that there is an Eco mode, which lets us turn off the video signal by default but turn it back on right away if baby is active. The audio quality is also extremely good. We particularly like the feature that lets you that allows you to set the monitor to vibrate if the audio is muted. The signal was also really reliable, even with four walls separating the monitor and the camera (around 25ft). Temperature sensor work well too. Also, the fact that the monitor is compatible with 110-240V so we can use it when we travel overseas was a huge plus for us. The battery life on the parent unit very good. We've used other monitors that required constant charging or just staying plugged in constantly, but with the Philips Avent we can use the parent unit all day without any issue. I also liked the design. Doesn't feel cheap and has nice matte finishing with a simple and easy-to-use interface. I'm not particularly tech-savvy and could figure the monitor out with no issues. The lullaby feature is nice, although we tended to use them more in the morning (v. at night to soothe baby to sleep) when baby was rolling around awake and one of us needed a couple of extra minutes to run to the bathroom before getting him. We put the talk function to similar good use, particularly if baby starts yelling “mama” when he wants me to come in to get him in the morning! The only thing I would change about this monitor is panoramic ability. You can pan in Zoom mode, but I feel like it would be helpful to be able to pan when zoom is off too. We got around this by mounting the monitor really high on the wall so we could see the entire crib at all times but if traveling with this monitor it could be tough to get the positioning right, particularly if your little one moves around a lot. We got a chance to try this monitor as part of the weeSpring Parent Panel and are really grateful as I know we will enjoy using it for many years.

I was really hoping to like this monitor because I was trying to find a good replacement for another brand that we already used, but whose charging cord/port was malfunctioning. So we used the old monitor for one child and the new monitor for another to get a feel for which was suited our needs best. The most important features for us were ease of set up/use, keeps secure connection without interfering with other home devices, ability to mount where needed, ability to speak over monitor to baby, and quality of video and sound. We did NOT want a phone-app monitor. We're pretty simple in our needs and we appreciate that the weeSpring Parent Panel gave us a chance to evaluate the Phillips Avent digital monitor. So, here's what we thought: PROS: -The set-up for the Avent was super simple and fast. Literally worked right out of the box without having to really do anything. Our other one was harder to pair the monitor to the camera, and it would lose connection pretty often. -High-def video. Motion appears much smoother on the Avent vs other brand. Night vision works well and picture is sharp. -I LOVE Eco mode. Our other monitor doesn't have this. This way we can save battery and will still be notified if baby makes sound or moves. The battery lasts a good, long time this way. Plus it helps keep our room a little darker at night. -Another feature I appreciated was that you can mute the sound and it will vibrate instead. It's lightweight and has a belt clip so you can wear it on you (alternatively, it is small enough to fit in most pockets.) When I'm in the baby's nursery putting him to sleep, I can keep this monitor in my pocket and will know if my older child is making noise in her room without waking the baby with the noise or bright light of the screen. -Range. We have a pretty big house and even when I'm at the end furthest from the kids' rooms, our connection is just fine. CONS: -There's no way to pan the camera. You can zoom in, and you can focus the view to other areas on the image, but you can't move the physical camera to look around in a wider view. This was hard for us to get used to, as our other monitor can move around the room (to a certain extent.) This was the only major downside for us. And when you do use the digital zoom, it takes a few steps to find it in the menu, and the video quality gets way worse and more pixelated, so it isn't very useful. Because of the location of our crib, there wasn't a great place to mount the monitor that allowed us to see the entire crib, so the ability to pan was crucial for us. -This might be personal to my child, but when we speak to her over the monitor's microphone, the audio's a bit garbled/staticky which just scares her. Plus the talkback button is hard to find in the dark. -Not a con, but a feature we didn't use or need is the ability to play lullabies over the monitor. We already had a white noise machine so this wasn't something that would have attracted us to this monitor. But for others, it may let you get a monitor with a built in sound machine, so two birds with one stone! A lot of video baby monitors have the same basic features, so it's the little extras that make them stand out. For the Avent, the quality of the image was definitely its best feature, but we also loved Eco mode. All in all, I do like this monitor and would recommend it.

The Philips Avent Digital Video Baby Monitor was a great, easy to use monitor for a single child. When I first looked at the instructions to set up the monitor, I was concerned because they reminded me of an IKEA manual – peculiar graphics without any text. I honestly couldn't make out what it was trying to say, but thankfully, "setup" just involved turning on the parent handheld and turning on the baby camera. It was very simple! The instructions actually made it seem more complicated than it was. For my first test run, I tried it out to watch my kids (15 mo. and 5 yrs.) in their play area while I cooked in the kitchen (for safety's sake, they were still in my line of sight, but the monitor provided an additional angle). The first thing I noticed was that the monitor couldn't capture the entire space (about 10' x 10') nor could I remotely move the camera, meaning it would do better for a smaller area or fixed spot. The image was remarkably clear, and it did zoom in nicely for detail. My next monitor use was when my little one fell asleep in the car on the ride home. I was able to park the car, leave the doors open (it was a balmy 70º day), and plug in the camera from an outlet in the garage. It was nice to be able to let her get a little bit of a nap and go inside myself, while still being able to continuously monitor her. The temperature feature here was key because I knew with comfort that she was neither too warm nor too chilly. It was so easy to pop out for her at the first signs of stirring. The audio quality was good enough that I could hear her every sigh. The single child use was great, and I used it many times that way. I didn't even use the ECO mode (because I wanted continuous monitoring), and the battery preformed admirably. I've used other monitors that poop out after an hour. The non-proprietary plug (USB mini) made it even easier to charge at our home docking station. I never tried out the lullabies because my girl doesn't really like them but also because I wasn't sure how to due to the unhelpful instructions. I also only used it in daylight, so I can not speak to the visual quality at night, but it was great during the day. My biggest concern with this monitor was that it can't grow with you and isn't that useful for multiple children. The parent unit can only connect to the one camera, and that camera is best used on a fixed spot – not helpful for checking in on an older toddler playing independently. That aside, this was an excellent monitor for single child use with great portability because it was so easy to set up and had long battery life. Even though it isn't perfect for my situation (two little ones), I am very glad to have received this product through the weeSpring Parent Panel specifically to keep an eye out during nap times!